IT was feared last night that the bloodshed in Gaza could destabilise the whole Middle East as Egypt beefed up security on its border.

Arab leaders called for a ceasefire to avoid the fighting spreading to the West Bank and even neighbouring Jordan - where half of the 5.5 million population is Palestinian.

The Gaza Strip is now controlled by Islamist Hamas and the West Bank by the Western backed Fatah faction. A new Palestinian government was being sworn in, but President Mahmoud Abbas is in a precarious position.